The Southern African Development Community (SADC) has "unanimously agreed" that a government of unity should be put in place in Zimbabwe by February 13, an official said on Tuesday morning.

SADC executive secretary Tomaz Salomao told the media around 5.30am that all parties had agreed that the prime minister and deputy prime minister would be sworn in by February 11.

"The minister and deputy ministers shall be sworn in on February 13 which will conclude the process of the formation of the inclusive government."

Zimbabwean political parties will get parliament to pass the constitutional amendment for a power sharing deal by February 5, Salomao said.

The announcement comes after 14 hours of talks aimed at reviving a power-sharing deal signed by long-time leader Robert Mugabe and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai last September.

The extra-ordinary summit was convened primarily to tackle the political impasse in Zimbabwe.

Heads of state from Botswana, Namibia, Madagascar, Mozambique, Tanzania, Zambia, South Africa and Zimbabwe and senior delegates from the seven other SADC countries represented their governments.

The summit was announced last week after power-sharing talks between the country's three political leaders deadlocked again in Harare.

Last Friday, SA Foreign Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said the answer to the problem could not be dictated by SADC, but only by the country's three leaders.

The political crisis in Zimbabwe has been exacerbated by several humanitarian crises since hotly contested March 2008 elections where both Tsvangirai and Mugabe claimed victory.

ZImbabwe has been marked by continued violence between rival parties, rocketing inflation, a cholera outbreak which has reportedly killed 2,773 people and a breakdown of the country's economic, agricultural and education systems.

SADC has met on numerous occasions to discuss the matter, never straying from its stance that the only solution to Zimbabwe's problems was an amendment to the September 2008 power-sharing agreement, facilitated by former SA president Thabo Mbeki.

The amendment outlined the allocation of cabinet posts, which had been hotly contested by all parties.